what happened in dallas? the assassination of john kennedy. host: independent vermont senator bernie sanders joins us from capitol hill this morning. thank you for being with us. should democrats be ready to walk away from the bargaining table, as you the congress, addressed this fiscal cliff? should democrat be willing to say, if we cannot get what we want, we are willing to go over the cliff, essentially? guest: we all want to do everything we can to see that the fiscal cliff is avoided. what we have seen in the past is a level of obstructionism on the part of republicans to say, it is either my way or the highway. elections have consequences. democrats had a strong victory, the president won big. democrats won 25 out of 33 cents in the senate -- seats in the senate. one of the key issues in the campaign was whether or not we would extend tax breaks for the wealthiest people in the country. virtually every debate, every statement the president made, every speech, he said, i will not extend those tax breaks. i think the american people voted